Star: Spirit's Daughter
by cornflower9909
Summary: My first story! Yaay! This is my sequel to m all time favorite movie. What happens when Spirit has a daughter whose captured by his old friends, the calvary? Read on to find out! Rated k cuz I don't know which side is non and which side is violent.
1. Chapter 1

**Check it out! My very first story! Yaaaay! This movie has bee my all-time fav since I was 3 and I've been working on this story in my head for a while, then I finally found this site, so now I get to show it off to the whole world! (or at least whoever's on this site) Yaaaaaaay!**

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Star was a 3 year-old buckskin filly. She had a black star on her forehead, which was how she got her name, and had been raised as a completely wild mustang from the day she was born. Both her mother and her father had lived with two-legs before she was born, her mother, a brown and white paint mare named Rain, had been raised by the kind Lakota Indians. Her father, the large, buckskin mustang stallion who was the leader of the herd and who Star was the near spitting image of, had been born wild, then captured by wranglers and sold to the two-legs of the U.S. Calvary. There he met the two-leg that had owned Rain at the time and they managed to escape together. After quite a few adventures together, the Indian boy, named Little Creek, and Star's father, who was called Spirit-who-could-not-be-tamed, or just Spirit by the two-legs, managed to win back their freedom. Then Little Creek set Rain free and she and Spirit ran back to his herd together.

Star was currently the horse who was going to become the next leader of the herd. Her two younger siblings were both fillies as well, so unless Rain had a colt before Spirit died, she, as the oldest, was going to lead the herd. She was usually close by her father, watching him, taking notes on how to lead what would one day be her herd. But besides knowing that she would one day take on the responsibility of leading the herd, Star led a pretty care-free life. Little did she know that in a few days that was all about to change.

But for now she would just go about happily, chasing butterflies and eating grass, oblivious to the pain that was arriving on horseback, just a few days from turning her world upside-down.

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The large buckskin stallion stood on the top of the hill that overlooked the valley where all the other horses in his herd grazed, keeping watch over the horses as he always had since he had become the leader of his herd. Suddenly his ears pricked up and his head spun around as a young buckskin filly, almost the spitting image of him exept for a black star on her forehead, trotted up to him. She rubbed her head against his neck and he gently nuzzled the top of her head and nickered soflty to his daughter. She nickered back to him, and he cold tell something was on her mind. "What do you need, Star?" Spirit asked gently. The two of them had the closest bond of any pair of horses in the herd and Spirit had never been rough with her, and had never had a reason to skeak harshly to her. "3 horses want to join the herd, Dad. A mare and her 3 year-old twins, one colt and one filly. Can they join the herd, Dad?" Star asked. Spirit looked down at his daughter kindly as she stared up at him with big, curious eyes. She was going to have to make these decisions on her own, someday, and she wouldn't have the experienced knowledge of her father to ask for advice, he realised with a start. And she was going to have to get the experience to make wise decisions on her own without endangering the rest of the herd before that. Might as well start now. "Well," he began "you've met these newcomers, and I haven't. And I trust your judgement. So, what do you think?"

Star looked shocked. Her father, who in her mind was the all-knowing, all-powerful, undefeatable leader and protector of the herd, was asking _her_ for advice! "Weeelllll, the mare seems a little odd, but I like the colt and the filly, sooo, I think we should... let them in?" she said looking up to her up to her father for criticism. He nodded his approval to her "Always go with your gut feeling. It's usually right." Star looked up at him questioningly "Usually?" she asked. Spirit's ears flicked his ears back and dipped his head low, looking embarrassedly up at his daughter. "Your mother and I... Well, let's just say that I didn't really like her when I first met her and my innitial gut feeling was wrong, alright?" Then he lifted his head and said "Right let's go see our three newest herd members!" Spirit galloped off in the direction Star had come from, with Star laughing good-naturedly at his embaressment as she followed close behind him

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**Kay, that's it for now, I'll make more chapters soon, promise! (I'm just really hungry right now, but I've gotten this story way farther in my head.) Thanks for reading the first chapter of my first story (since you wouldn't be reading this message if you didn't just read this chapter!) Plz favorite! Bye! **


	2. Chapter 2

**yes, chapter 2! finally!**

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Star galloped ahead, leading her father to where the 3 new horses waited. As they came into view, the 3 horses looked up. The oldest was a bay mare that looked to be about 10 years old. The other 2 were younger, both looking to be about 3 years old, and had black coats, manes, and tails. The colt was the bigger of the two, standing about 2 hands taller at the shoulder, and was much more muscular. The filly was smaller, with a light-weight frame, and had a thin, jagged streak of white branching out down her chest that looked like a bolt of lightning.

When he saw them, Spirit was amazed at how different, yet how similar they looked. Though horse twins were rare, since foals usually take up so much room before they're born just by themselves and one is usually weaker and dies, the pair of twins who lived in the herd currently had both looked exactly the same and were the same size, so Spirit had naturally assumed that that was how these two would look. Obviously, he now saw, that was not the case.

When they got close, the mare walked up to them and introduced herself and her children. "Hello. My name is Dust. These are my children, Thunder," she said looking at the colt "and Lightning." She looked towards the filly. "We would like to join your herd." She said simply. Spirit nodded. "Yes, my daughter told me of your request. So, let me be the first to welcome you into my herd."

Dust bowed her head respectfully. "I thank you kindly sir. If there's anything else we can-"She was cut off abruptly by Spirit. "No thanks necessary, Dust. And please, call me Spirit." Dust nodded again, then Star said to the other two young ones "Come on Thunder and Lightning! Let's go run!" and the trio darted off together.

Spirit watched them running off happily together, then went to go back to his watch hill. That was another reason why Star was always shadowing him. She had never had any friends of her own to run around with. She had been the only foal born in the herd that year and even her younger sisters had never really paid much attention to her. She had always been more distant from the other young horses, so she'd spent her time with her father. It was good for her to have friends to play with that were her age, Spirit thought, very good indeed.

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Word spread very quickly about the three new horses that joined the herd when young Star was seen racing around with her two newfound best friends. Rain and Esperanza, Spirit's mother, a palomino with a white blaze running down her face, watched approvingly from the herd. They had always felt that Star needed friends and now here they were. Star's younger sisters also heard about the new comers. Especially Thunder.

Cloud, a two year-old grey filly, and Sweetie, a bay yearling with a black heart on her forehead, had always had lots of attention from the other young colts who were trying to impress them, and, as a result, were very stuck-up horses. When they heard about Thunder, they decided that they wanted_ him_ to try to chase them around and impress them. They wanted to have a handsome colt try to win their affection. For them that would be the ultimate prize and symbol that they were the prettiest horses in the herd.

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When Star, Thunder, and Lightning took a break from running around, the 2 vain horses saw their chance. Giggling, they walked up to Thunder. "Hi." "Hi." They said one after the other, still giggling. "Hello." Said Thunder modestly. _Well, these 2 fillies look nice._ He thought to himself. _And they're really pretty, too._

Star looked upward, sighed, and shook her head. _Flirts_, she thought. Then Star walked up to her younger siblings, who were still flirting with Thunder, and said: "Go away, you two. You have about 5 or 6 little colts that are always following you around, and you've both broken the hearts of all of them more than once. You could leave at least one colt in the herd without a broken heart, couldn't you? Now leave us alone. Come on, guys. Let's go." And Star and her 2 friends trotted off.

Thunder was thoroughly confused. "Why did we have to leave them? I thought they seemed really nice." Lightning felt the same. "Yeah, what was so bad about them?" Star sighed. "Look, Thunder, you don't want to get caught up with those two. My sisters are just little vain pains. They bounce around between every colt in the herd. Whenever they get bored with one, they break his heart, and then go off with some other colt. Every colt here has had their heart broken at least 5 times. Trust me; you do not want to get caught up with them unless you're looking to get your heart broken.

"Well, alright. If you say so." Thunder said, even though he still looked confused. He looked over at his sister and shrugged. Then they both followed Star, who had taken off again.

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Spirit looked down from his watch hill and smiled. _That's my girl._

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**okay, i know my chapters are kinda short, but if i tried to make them longer, it'd just be one long story with no chapters. sorry.**


	3. Chapter 3

**okay, finally! chapter 3! woo hoo! thank you last assassn's shadow for your review. i will try to make my chapters longer. i just can't type that much at a time cuz my mind works faster than i can type an it drives me nuts. enjoy!**

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Over the next few days, Star, Thunder, and Lightning grew to be great friends. They did everything together. They ran together, they grazed together, they played together. The three of them were nearly inseparable. One night they even slept together. And all the while, most of the herd, including Lightning and Star's family, sensed something more than the close bond friendship that had, so quickly, formed between the three young foals beginning to form solely between Star and Thunder.

The pair themselves, though, didn't have the slightest hint of their growing feelings for one another, even if everyone else did. To them they were very close friends, not realizing that the fluttering dance that their hearts did whenever they were close, or saw each other was from love.

So they all went about their business as usual for a while, unaware of the danger that was just around the corner.

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It was nighttime in the herd. All was very quiet, as usual. One week had passed since Dust and her 2 children had entered the herd, and everyone was happy. But this night was to be different. Tonight, the wranglers were coming.

Star wandered between the sleeping horses to where her father was standing, searching the stars. She greeted her father the way they normally did, rubbing each other's heads and whickering softly to one another. Star hadn't shadowed her father nearly as much now that she had her new friends, and saw a chance for some alone time with him in this moment.

"I haven't been seeing much of you up here lately." Spirit said softly. "Well, I've never really had friends that I can play around with like I am before now," Star replied "and I'm sorry if you feel left out." Spirit smiled gently at her. "No, I don't feel left out in the least bit. But remember, your life won't be like this forever, always prancing around without a care in the world. Unless this next foal is a boy,_ you_ are going to lead this herd when I die. That's a lot of responsibility. _You _will be solely responsible for the entire herd's safety and well-being."

The full force of what he said hit her like a battering ram and she took step backwards. "The entire herd…." She murmured softly to herself.

Spirit nodded. "I know. It's a lot of horses to care for." He paused, then started talking again. "Do you know how you were named?" Star looked confused. "Of course I know how I was named. I have a black star on my forehead and you got the idea for my name from the star."

Spirit shook his head slowly. "Not totally, Star. When I got captured by two-legs 3 years ago, I would always look up at the bright, shining North Star and imagine what it was like back home and that gav4 me hope that I would see my family again. And I did get back home to my family, and I know that I will always get back home if the star is in the sky. When you were born, Star, you were born at night, under the same star, and with the star upon your forehead. I knew that it was a sign that you would always return to me, and so I named you Star, after the one that had given me so much hope when I was captured. Look at the sky, Star."

Star did as she was told and looked at the sky. "See that bright, shining star right there? If you are ever separated from the herd, look for that star in the night sky and know that where ever you are, no matter how far away, I will find you and bring you back home, no matter what."

Star sighed and laid her head contentedly on her father's neck for a few seconds, thinking over what her father had just said, and then her head shot up when something occurred to her. "Dad, what did you mean by this next foal?"

Her father winced, flicking his ears back and lifting up one foot as if he was going to take a step backwards. "Weeellll…" Star looked unimpressed. "Dad, is Mom pregnant?" Spirit looked uncomfortable "Well….. Yes, Sweetheart, she's going to have a foal soon."

Star nodded. "I thought so. Why wouldn't you tell me?" Spirit still looked uncomfortable "We wanted to surprise you, and I didn't want you to get all worked up about the possibility that you might not lead the herd. But I've decided that if this next foal is not a colt, then you will become the next leader of the herd no matter what."

Star smiled and leaned back up against her father as she had before and together they lifted their heads into the wind and smelled the surrounding area, one of the practice methods for sensing danger that her father had taught her. Grass, pine, old mountain lion, the familiar scents of the herd… and something else, something that had not visited here for 3 years. Something that Spirit had never hoped to smell again.

Spirit shoved Star away with his head shouting "Run, Star, run!" Star was extremely confused, but did as she was told and galloped back to the herd. Spirit whirled around, searching for the wranglers, and then spotted them, thundering towards his herd on their bay horses. "Two-legs! Everybody wake up! Two-legs are approaching the herd!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. Then, all at once, they were at the herd, swirling around the hill he stood on with lassos swirling around their heads.

It was mass confusion as the wranglers began to capture the horses of the herd. Horses were everywhere trying to escape the lasso and looking for loved ones. It seemed to drag on and on. It seemed like it would never end. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The wranglers left. The running horses slowed down, then some stopped, while others walked around calling out for their loved ones. It was going to be a long night.

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Spirit stood on his hill, searching the frightened horses below for his girls, his family. Cloud stood close to him, extremely frightened, but in the confusion she'd gotten separated from Sweetie. Rain, Esperanza, and Star were missing as well, which had Spirit worried. He had no idea how many horses, or which horses, had been captured, and he hated not knowing about the safety of any one member of his herd. He knew the name, face, and smell of every horse in his herd for a reason. He was the leader of the herd and it was his responsibility to keep_ everyone_ in his herd safe no matter what.

Just then, Rain, Thunder and a very scared looking Sweetie trotted on to the hill. Sweetie let out a small squeak and went to go cower next to her sister.

At first Spirit was relieved at the sight of his daughter and Rain, as well as the new colt, but the looks on the older two's faces got him worried. Spirit trotted over to where Rain and Thunder were standing and nuzzled Rain. "What's the matter?" he asked softly. Rain drew a shaky breath and attempted to reply "Oh, it's just so horrible! We-we… Oh it's so horrible!" and she burst into tears.

Spirit tried to comfort her s little bit and looked to Thunder to explain. Thunder sighed. "We can't find my mother. Or the little filly named Speed. Or Lightning, or Esperanza. Or… or" he dropped his head down sadly. "We can't find Star." He finished softly.

Spirit's eyes widened with disbelief then went up to the stars, like he'd told his daughter to do that very same night. _No, not Star. Please not my bright, shining little Star. Oh, my little Star, wherever you are, no matter how far away, no matter what happens, I promise I will bring you and the others home. I swear by the North Star, I will not spend another night here and I will not rest until you are safe with the rest of the herd. I swear._

"I swear it, my little Star." He whispered to himself. "I swear it!"

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Meanwhile, a group of wranglers dragged 5 freshly-caught horses across the open plains in the dead of night. There were 10 in the group, each holding on to a horse. 2 were holding on to a particularly wild black filly who looked like she had forked lightning on her chest. 3 were holding onto three other horses, and it took all the other 5's strength to hold on to the last extremely wild filly. As she reared up, Star looked at the staras her father had told her to, and thought: _I promise you, father, I will bring the horses back home. And I _will_ make it back to you!_

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**ooooh! dramatic ending! haoped ya liked it! i think have at least one more chapter before i have caught up to my head. ugh. gotta go do more typing. at least i'm on summer break. plz favorite and leave me reviews! it encourages me to continue. bye! **


	4. Chapter 4

**ok, here you go! thanks everyone who added me to their favs! since today is my b-day (yay) i've decided to give a backwards birtday gift and upload fo yah. enjoy!**

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The young buckskin filly struggled wildly against the restraining ropes held by the five wranglers it took to keep her going in the right direction. In the entire day and night they had held her captive, not once had she stopped struggling. That was the one thing Star refused to stop doing. Only when they finally stopped for the night and the other 4 horses begged her to stop did finally calm down, and sleep and eat. But she was still seething.

When they went off again in the morning, much to the surprise of the wranglers, she began to buck and struggle wildly again. And so it went on like that for the next two days, with Star only giving up her struggles when they stopped to rest for the night.

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A young Native American man, who was named Little Creek, leaned against the rails of the now empty paddock set up for whatever horses came his way and watched the wranglers drag a particularly feisty young filly along with the other horses they'd caught. He looked at her thoughtfully. Only once before had he seen a horse with as much spirit as that. But that had been 3 years ago, and it had been a stallion, not a filly. Odd, though, how similar she looked to the stallion. The only difference was the star upon her forehead.

He sighed. Spirit-who-could-not-be-tamed. That was the name he had given to the wild stallion. He had seen the entire cavalry, every single soldier in the fort, try and fail to ride him, and even Little Creek hadn't been able to ride him until he had gained the horse's trust and friendship.

He sighed again as he remembered the place where he had taken care of his paint mare, Rain, who had gone with Spirit when he set them free. Though the young man had won his freedom from the cavalry, they had still pushed the Lakota tribe farther from their original homelands. Although none of them knew it at the time, his tribe was now much closer than they ever had been before to where Spirit's herd lived.

All of these thoughts and others went through his head as he watched the young filly struggling wildly. He wished there was something that he could do to help her.

_Help._ The word brought his thoughts back to Rushing Stream, a young orphaned girl he'd volunteered to raise after her parents had died. Now she was about 16 years old, having only been about 13 when he first volunteered to take care of her, and gone off almost completely by herself except for the small coyote pup named Asheeba that never left her side, to go exploring. She should have been back by now. He wondered where she had gone.

And even while he had been witching her struggle, Star had noticed the scent of the dark-skinned two-legs that hung in the air. Her heart had, if possible, quickened ever so slightly when she scented it. Those two-legs, she knew from her parents, were very kind and might even help them, and at the moment she was more willing than ever to trust them.

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The day after the wranglers came, Spirit lost no time in organizing a rescue party. It consisted of himself, Rain, Thunder, and Speed's father. A small party, he knew, but he needed to travel quickly if he wanted to catch up to those who had stolen away his mother and his pride and joy.

While he was gone, since he couldn't convince Rain to stay behind, although he knew she would be much better off there, he left the other pair of resident twins in his herd. They were surprisingly mature for a pair of 4 year olds, but he knew that he could trust them in a cinch. He would have preferred to leave Star there, knowing that she had been well enough trained and could make the right decisions easily, although he knew she needed to trust herself a bit more, but seeing as she was the whole reason they left, that wouldn't be happening.

Before they left Spirit addressed them one last time. "Alright, before we leave let me warn you all one last time. We are going to go try and save my mother and daughter, Speed, Lightning, and Dust. I have no idea how long this will take, or what dangers we will face. If any of you would like to back out now you may do so, or at any other time along the way. I would not blame you. If you have anything to say before we leave that is important, please say it now."

All three were silent, but Thunder was looking at the ground uncomfortably, looking as if he was contemplating whether or not to say something on some uncomfortable subject. Spirit noticed this and asked impatiently "What is it? Do you have something important to say, or not, Thunder? If you don't we need to get going if you ever want to see your sister and mother and the others again." Thunder sighed, and said "Well, we don't actually have to rescue my mother." They all stared at him in shock. "What?"

He nodded uncomfortably. "You heard me right. We don't need to get my mother. She's… a bit odd, and she's been telling me and my sister for our whole lives how much the light-skinned two-legs are the 'friendliest things alive' and how she really wanted to belong to one of their herds. She's probably happy as a horsefly right now, not even considering how to escape, or even wanting to." The other horses still looked at him oddly, but Spirit was now impatient to get started. "All right, is everyone ready? Then let's go!" and they all thundered off to go rescue their friends.

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** ok, im too tired to continue. otherwise it'd be longer. hope you enjoyed. good night, or whatever time ou happen to be reading this.**


	5. Chapter 5

**okay, here it is. it took me several _days _to type up, so be happy. it would have ben here sooner, but i had to go to horse camp for a week, which is part of the reason. falling off a horse, small amounts of high fructose corn syrup and high altitudes apear to have short circuted my atteneion span a well. and my face is PEELING OFF. well, not literally. but itgot sunburned t camp and sunburns peel and it's distracting. but somethinggood did come out of camp: I GOT TO SEE AND PET A HORSE THAT LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE SPIRIT! his name was even spirit. it was awesome. enjoy! **

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Esperanza sighed as she watched young Star continue to struggle against the ropes that held her down as the horses were dragged along. Even Lightning had stopped struggling after the first night, realizing that it was fruitless to continue struggling. The only thing that Star was accomplishing was slowing them down considerably. She'd heard the two-legs discussing that they were now a day behind and that they would have to stay an extra night on the plains, which should have just been a 1 day trip. But, while they were still moving, no matter what anyone else said, or how much they begged and pleaded with her, Star bluntly refused to stop.

It had been nearly a day now since they passed by the Lakota tribe, and the sun was beginning to set. Soon, Esperanza knew, they would be stopping for the night and Star would finally allow herself to rest. They passed the rest of the day in almost complete silence, except for the wild sounds of Star's struggling and the grunts of the two-legs who struggled to keep her from running away, as well as the clopping of the horses' hooves on the hard earth.

Finally, it was night time, and they stopped for a break. Star slowed down and eventually stopped struggling altogether, letting her head down to graze in the small clumps of grass around the camp that she could reach. As the moon rose higher Dust, Lightning and Speed gently drifted off to sleep, as did the two-legs. But Star stayed awake, staring up at her namesake and hoping her father was too. Esperanza wandered over, the rope that tied her up luckily was long enough for her to reach her granddaughter.

"You're looking up at the star your father told you about, aren't you?" Esperanza asked gently. Star nodded sadly "Yes, he told me about it the night we were captured." She looked over at Esperanza, then noticed something and wandered a little closer to her, a plan formulating in her mind.

Esperanza noticed this and asked "What are you doing?" Star just said "Lower your head a bit please." Then Star grabbed the loop of rope around Esperanza's neck, which was the only thing keeping her tied up, and lifted it up over her head and dropped it onto the ground. Esperanza looked at it in surprise. "Now, let's wake up little speed over there and undo her. Then you two can run away to safety." Esperanza nodded slowly, then asked "But what about you and the others?" Star shook her head and looked back towards the others. "We'd just make too much noise, then we'd all get caught and might not get another chance to escape. I at least want you and Speed to get away."

Esperanza nodded sadly. "I understand." Then she walked softly over to Speed and nudged her awake. Speed was scared and confused when she woke up. "W-what's going on?" she asked nervously and tried to press closer to Esperanza, but couldn't because Esperanza moved too far away. Then she said gently "Shhh, it's alright." and gently lifted the rope over Speed's little head. She then walked back to Star who gave her a few last-minute instructions. "Gallop as fast as you can until sunrise. Then you 2 should be safe. Stay along the tracks that we made today. That way they can't track you. And, please be careful." The two rubbed heads, then Esperanza said "You be careful too, alright?" Star nodded, then turned to Speed and gently lifted up her head "Now, you do everything Esperanza tells you and everything will be fine, alright?" Speed nodded silently. Star turned back to Esperanza and said "Now, go!" and the mare and filly galloped off together. "Be safe." Star whispered as they galloped off.

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The rescue party looking for Star and the others was actually making much better time than they thought. Although to them it didn't feel like they were going very fast at all, Star was slowing down the two-legs so much that Spirit and the others were actually closing the gap between them very quickly. Despite this, they still happened to be a day behind the two-legs' group. They managed to reach the Lakota village the same day that Esperanza and Speed did.

Spirit put his nose to the air and took a deep breath, while Rain did the same, the two of them smelling the air. Then Spirit and Rain looked at each other and grinned. They raced forward to the edge of the valley they were standing on and looked over the edge. There, standing by a wooden paddock stroking the nose of a palomino mare, was Little Creek, their old friend.

Spirit and Rain whinnied loudly, and Little Creek looked up in surprise to see the two horses he never thought he'd see again come rushing down the hill to meet him. They stopped right next to him and Little Creek grinned widely and threw his arms around their necks and laughed. He let go of them and looked at them, still smiling, and stroked their noses. "It's good to see you again my friends." He said quietly. Spirit head butted him playfully, and Rain nibbled at his hair affectionately. Little Creek laughed and tried to push her off, and while he was distracted, the mare in the paddock whinnied at Spirit. Spirit looked over at the mare and was surprised to find that the mare was his mother, and standing close beside her was little Speed.

Spirit trotted over to her and rubbed noses with his mother. He looked at her and said "Ohhh, I'm so glad you and Speed are safe. But how did you escape from the other two-legs?" Esperanza smiled at him. "That daughter of yours is very smart, you know. And brave, too. She sacrificed her freedom to make sure that I and Speed got away from the two-legs safely, and to make sure that the other two horses stayed safe. She's going to be a great leader one day, that's for certain." Spirit was amazed and very proud at the same time. His daughter, not even a full grown mare yet, was making decisions like a mare twice her age. "She hasn't stopped struggling yet either." Esperanza mused half to herself to herself, though loud enough for Spirit to hear. "Won't stop fighting till they stop for the night. It takes 5 of them to keep her going straight." Spirit smiled to himself. That was his Star. Always going to get her way eventually, or else everyone else was miserable. That similar to how she acted at home, just a whole lot calmer and a bit easier to persuade.

Then Rain noticed the other two horses. "Esperanza! Speed! You're safe!" she whinnied and trotted over to join Spirit. Speed's father and Thunder, hearing Rain's happy whinnies, came down to see what was going on. Speed whinnied happily when she saw her father and raced over to the part of the fence where her father would arrive first. Thunder trotted down last, since he wasn't meeting up with his mother, Lightning, or Star.

While the horses were greeting each other, Little Creek pondered why they had all come this far away from their home lands. He knew for a fact that they lived nowhere near here, for he had ventured a long ways away from the settlement and never encountered any of the horses before. Then he realized that the horses in the paddock had been with the wranglers he'd seen. And that feisty young filly must have been… that was why they were all here. They were coming for their friends and family. Then he noticed Rain's sides. Barrel belly sides. She was going to have a foal soon. Very soon indeed.

Suddenly Rain gave a start. She froze with her ears laid back. All the horses and Little Creek looked at her anxiously. She looked at Spirit and said "The foal's coming."

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**dramtc ending! alright im sick of typing again. bye. review or something in a day or two when the suspense is killing you too much. im reaaaalllly hungry right now andi want to be done wit typin for at least a day before i continue. reviewing keeps me motivated. bye again. **


	6. Chapter 6

**aaaaaannnnnnnddddd i'm back. i know, i know, it took me foooorrrrreevvveeerrr to get this new chapter out and i'm sssssssooooooo sorry. i will never try to do that again. my orginal plan was just for it to be a couple of days, depending on how long it took for me to get the motivation to get to the next chapter, but then July got here and i had to spend the whole month with relative and i didn't bring my laptop and didn't have access to a computer for the first week, couldn't get my little brother to stop playing minecraft for the next two weeks, then i didn't have access to a computer again for a week, then i got reunited with my laptop, but i needed more motivation again, so i finaly got myself to type yesterday and finished today. i will not try to keep you waiting so long again, but shool's coming up in a week or two, so i can't make any promises. you are now probably wantng to get on to the story, so i'll stop talking now. i give you, 6 or 7 hours of distracted typing!**

* * *

As the wranglers walked closer and closer to the huge wooden structure, more two-legs dressed in crisp, blue uniforms walked up and took the ropes from the wranglers. Star still struggled as wildly as ever to get free, but as she was led through the doors and they were closed behind her with an ominous thud, her will seemed to evaporate.

While they had been walking there had always been some way to escape. There had been wide open fields for miles around and she could have easily gotten away if she'd only freed herself, but those doors that had just been closed sealed off her one chance at freedom, the only way that she could have possibly escaped. Now it was time for her to play the waiting game, to wait until a moment when the gates were open and she was freed of any bonds tying her up, when she could make a break for it and help the other horses escape with her, then she could run like the wind with all the other horses until they were safe and sound back in her homelands. But now was not that moment. Right now, she had to wait, be patient, and save her energy for when that moment did arrive.

While Star looked around, assessing the building and looking for any other possible exits, (although when her father talked about his days with two-legs he'd only ever described the one possible exit that had just been sealed off from the horses) Dust and Lightning looked around in terrified amazement at the inside of the fort.

Two-legs holding lethal-looking metal rods with thicker wooden ends patrolled the battlements. On one side there was one long stall that usually held all the horses there, another held all the barracks where soldiers were going in and out like ants. A corner held a roofed over area with a fire pit in it and a fat two-leg was hunched over, clanging away with a hammer and a very large and very small piece of metal. In the very center there was a large corral, and a few separate posts, one inside it and one out of it. There was also a large metal pole with a flag fluttering on it. The flag had red and white stripes on it and one corner was solid blue with white stars on it. All of the two-legs except for the one banging away at the piece of metal were wearing blue uniforms, with slight differences in the uniforms depending on their rank.

The two-legs stopped them as row upon row of other two-legs riding upon brown horses trotted in perfect rows in front of them. Another two-leg rode up on a horse to them, but this one seemed different from the others. He had an air of command about him that the others didn't. Like the others he had on a blue uniform, but he also had a blue cowboy hat shading his eyes. He had shoulder length brown hair, and a brown mustache and small, neatly trimmed beard.

One of the two-legs ran up to him and saluted. "Sir! These are the horses that the wranglers have brought in." the two-leg with the cowboy hat looked them over. Dust and Lightning huddled closer together as his gaze swept over them, but when his eyes locked with Star's, she stood up straighter and met his eyes defiantly.

He nodded his approval and pointed at Star. "We'll start with her. Take them over to Murphy, but when he starts with her make sure she is securely tied up. She appears to be descended off of that buckskin stallion we had several years ago, and, if you will recall what happened then, it would be better to be safe than sorry with her now, Lieutenant." The lieutenant saluted and directed the other two-legs holding the horses to the area near the fat two-leg.

* * *

They dragged Star into the posts and tied her up as Murphy came out of the shadows. First they tied a rope halter that had a piece of cloth that covered up her mouth and nose to her head so that she couldn't bite anyone. Then they tied her head up so that she could barely move it. They also tied each of her feet to the four posts around her so that she couldn't kick anyone, and tied up her sides so that she couldn't lean against the rails. So, it was nearly impossible to do anything at all. Nearly.

After that Star got her first good look at the two-leg they called Murphy. He was a large two-leg, with balding reddish-brown hair and a mustache. He wore a large smitty's apron over his blue shirt and brown shorts, and had long, black protective gloves. When he saw Star all tied up he paled slightly.

"Why's that mare all done up like that?" he asked nervously. One of the other two-legs grinned "She's supposed to be that other stallion's girl, Murphy. Don't worry you'll be fine. It's a mare this time, and she's already tied up for yah. What's the worst that could happen?" Murphy glared at the speaker. "Last time, I'll remind you, the stallion managed to free himself and put me in the infirmary for 3 days. I don't care if this is a mare or not, that stallion and his whole family are devil's spawn." The other two-leg sighed "Just get in with it Murphy. Yah got 2 more after this one." Then he turned and walked a short distance away. He'd seen the mare fighting outside and he wanted to be a safe distance away by the time Murphy pulled out the red-hot brand.

Murphy sighed and grabbed a pair of scissors_. Let's get this done with quickly_, he thought and he grabbed a handfull of her long mane to start snipping away.

* * *

_He's nervous;_ Star thought to herself, _he's _scared _of me. Well, we can't let him be scared for nothing, now can we?_ She'd been, unnoticed by the other two-legs, getting her head loose. One more big tug should get her head out. As she felt him grab a handfull of her mane, she jerked her head back, out of the rope halter, and bit down hard on the hand holding the scissors. She let go quickly in surprise when she felt bones snap under her teeth. Murphy yowled in pain and another two-leg led him away.

When he came back his hand was thickly bandaged, and he looked reproachfully at the horse. Then he took a horseshoe, some nails, a hammer, and a small knife and untied her right back foot and started to clean it out with the knife. He didn't try to trim her mane, though. He needed to have all the fingers on both hands to be able to bend to do that. As his attention turned to a pocket in his apron to grab some other things, Star quickly pulled her hoof out of his grasp and kicked him.

She had aimed for the back of his head, but, luckily for Murphy, it was slightly bent downwards, so there was less damage. Star still hit his head, but instead of her whole hoof hitting square on the middle of his head, half of her hoof hit the top of his head. But he still sprawled out, unconscious and bleeding from a cut on the back of his head. The two-legs stared in amazement for several moments before reacting. Several of them picked him up and carried him off somewhere. Star snorted. Her work was done for now.

* * *

Rain trotted over slowly to an open patch ground and laid down slowly on her side. Then she whinnied to Spirit. He trotted over to her and she lifted up her head as they rubbed foreheads. Then she said gently to him "I'm alright, dear. Little Creek won't let anything bad happen to me. You and Thunder need to go find Star and Lightning. I'll be just fine." He sighed. Spirit knew what she said was true, but he still didn't want to leave her. She smiled up at him. "Go." She insisted. Spirit nodded. "Alright. I'll take Thunder and go find them. And when I come back, I'll have all three of them safe and sound." Then he trotted down to the others.

Little Creek was concerned for his former horse and was going to go check on her when Spirit trotted back down the hillside. He stopped in front of the young man, and looked into his eyes and an understanding passed between them. Spirit was going to leave to go to the cavalry fort to look for his foal and he was trusting him to take care of Rain. As Spirit turned and whinnied to Thunder, Little Creek thought of something and called "Wait!" to the horses, then called "Sunkwa!" And a young boy, about 16 or 17 years old ran up to him. He was Rushing Stream's best friend and could be trusted to bring her back safely.

To Spirit he said "Let him ride with you." Spirit snorted, then whinnied to Thunder and pawed the ground. Thunder gave a confused whinny in reply, then Spirit repeated his previous actions and Thunder whinnied back and nodded his head, then turned around.

Sunkwa looked confusedly at Little Creek. "What's going on?" he asked. Little Creek replied "Rushing Stream and Asheeba should have gotten back from the fort by now, but they have not. Several days ago wranglers passed through with horses from the stallion's herd, and took them to the fort as well. The black stallion is letting you ride him at least to the fort so that you can find Rushing Stream and Asheeba, and they can find the horses taken from their herd. I want you to go with them, since I have to take care of the mare, and the stallion will trust no others to take care of her."

Sunkwa nodded and slowly walked up to the stallions. He hesitated as he passed Spirit, but the buckskin stallion gave the boy a hard nudge towards Thunder, which got him moving again and he climbed aboard the large black horse. Once he was safely aboard and gripping the horse's mane in his hands, he turned and waved goodbye to Little Creek, who then waved back and called "Goodbye!" as they galloped off. "Be safe." Little Creek whispered as the horses' long tails waved goodbye and they disappeared from sight over the hill.

The sun was beginning to set as he turned back towards the horses. Rain's distressed whinnies brought him out of his thoughts. _It's going to be a long night _he thought as he headed back to the pregnant mare. _A really long night._

* * *

**okay, here's a the answers few things you are probably thinking right now. 1. yeah, yeah, Murphy, got kickered in the head. he's not dead, or paralyzed or anything, okay? he just has like a minor concussion or something, but he's not gonna _die_. he'll wake up in 3 or4 days. i just needed to get lightning and dust out of the beauty shop o' horror for several days until some other important action takes place. i would never kill anybody in this story. 2. yeah, Sunkwa's name isn't in english, but neither is asheeba's (although that little coyote pup's name is the only truly original, creative name i've ever come up with.) and i stink at coming up with names, so i went tobing and typed in 'cool native american boys names' and i found this whole sight full of them. apperently its sioux for thundering horse, which i thought was appropriate since he ries thunder :) 3. okay, most people probably aren't wondering this. but: miss/mr. guest spiritfan person, yes i am calling you out! i love love love your idea for a foal, but i already have an idea for rain and spirit's last foal. don't worry though! im using your idea in an even bette spot. ;)**


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